The Buzz with CCX - Season 22 Episode 3

[ScarletDevilCCX]

I really may need to rename this damn thing. Once again, no drink tonight. I've got work tomorrow again, and on top of that, I've felt disgusting all day as a result of a poor night's sleep last night, as a result of attempting to clean out the fan in my bedroom because one of the two fans stopped turning and ending up just getting a faceful of dust that irritated my eyes. We've got contestants saying that it's every kid's dream, and I'm reminded that when I started watching this show I would've been too young to audition and now I'm way too old. (I never would have, though; I often struggle to make my voice do what I want, and because I'm aware of it, I wouldn't even make a good Cowell-era reject). One of them is Max Dasher, 18 from Black Mountain, NC, singing "Rock Salt and Nails" by Utah Phillips. He's just okay, but the judges seem to think he's got major star potential and try to get him to adopt the star attitude. He goes through. And then he comes back in to play guitar for his older sister Laela's audition. She's singing "Angel from Montgomery" by John Prine, and now I see. She's got potential. Luke asks if they do anything together, and Max volunteers "Rivers and Roads" by The Head and the Heart. And they're better together than either of them were alone. Lionel says yes, but Katy's gut is telling her no. Luke makes it a little tense, but he does put her through.

 

Scarlett Lee, 26 is from London, England. She sings "Clown" by Emile Sandé. She does well. It's not my style of music so I personally probably wouldn't vote for her if she makes it to the voting rounds, but I can recognize that she's good. She hits some big notes. And of course she goes through.

 

Donahue Diaries, 23, is full of energy. He's doing "I Want You To Want Me" by Cheap Trick. But he's not Idol material. The next guy is, but ADHD, I completely missed the name.

 

Jennifer Jeffries, 17, is the youngest of nine children, and she's been a songwriter since she was 9. Unsurprisingly, she's singing an original, "Change My Ways". ...Her stage presence needs work; she scrunches her face up too much when she sings. She's...not bad, but that might not cut it; singer-songwriters get a little more leeway, but will she be able to handle the weeks where she can't do an original? Well, the judges seem to think so. They love her.

 

Ryan Seacrest appreciation montage. Kimi, 25, from Brooklyn, NY, is originally Albanian from Kosovo, People who've known his family say that his voice is beautiful just like his mother's, but he's never heard that singing voice. When he was just 2 years old, she was diagnosed with MS, as well as PTSD from the war in Kosovo. He alone has moved to America, and he hasn't seen his family for six years. He's singing "Heal" by Tom Odell. They think it wasn't a good enough show and make him sing something else. They're still not sure. They want to know what his parents would think, and they have him call them up (after making sure the time difference wouldn't be a problem.) They have him sing to them in Albanian. He's crying...well, he sounds like he's crying, at least at first, but he pulls it together. Well, it's a sad song, he relates the lyrics. The judges like it, they feel he needed to start singing from his heart and not from his head, and he did that.

 

Aniston Pate, 20, from Dalhart, TX, drives a tractor, a John Deere. Luke asks if it's an 8400, and she says "bigger". She's been singing in bars since she was 14, and when the judges question this, she simply answers "Texas". She's singing an original called "Hummingbird", that she wrote about her mother. I love it. Luke's giving her advice on the lyrics. This is amazing. Lionel says that halfway through the first verse, he was "is that you, Dolly?", mostly in the way Dolly tells a story. Yeah, I kind of get it. She's raw, but she does have that Dolly Parton songwriting quality.

 

Madai Chakell is singing "I Kissed a Girl". It's way too much, just like the montage that preceded her. But Lionel and Katy put her through. CJ Rislove, 22, is a real free spirit, living on a bus by choice--he says he's from "Everywhere and Nowhere, USA". He sings an original that he wrote just yesterday, and he has to look up the lyrics. He goes through.

 

Another yes but we're nearing the end of the show and I've completely tuned out. She deserved to go through.

 

Another ex-football player, a lineman. He's had 3 concussions, and he said sometimes it just doesn't feel right. So he left football and took up the guitar. Will Moseley,23, from Hazlehurst, GA, playing an original. And he barely gets started before he gets a yes from Lionel, who apparently has somewhere to be. He goes through.